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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24441217">A Friend, Some Peeps, and a Really Old Car</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanctuaria/pseuds/Sanctuaria'>Sanctuaria</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Falling into Place [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dekesy, Fluff, Gen, Heart-to-Heart, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, LemonQuake, Time Travel, marshmallow peeps, season 7, season 7 spec fic</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 09:20:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,221</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24441217</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanctuaria/pseuds/Sanctuaria</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Back on the Zephyr after saving her seven-year-old self from Chronicoms intent on erasing Quake from existence, Daisy is a bit distanced from the rest of the team. Deke takes it upon himself to talk to her, in typical Deke fashion. </p>
<p>A companion piece to <i>Forever’s Already Started (you just don’t know it yet)<i>, but can be read separately.</i></i></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Deke Shaw &amp; Skye | Daisy Johnson, Deke Shaw/Skye | Daisy Johnson, could be a precursor to Deke Shaw/Skye | Daisy Johnson if you like</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Falling into Place [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828240</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>133</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>fill the daisy/deke tag with actual content 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Friend, Some Peeps, and a Really Old Car</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I would recommend reading the first work in this series first, but you definitely don't have to if you're just here for Deke &amp; Daisy feels. All you really need to know is that it takes place after Daisy, Coulson, and May had to visit St. Agnes in the 1990s to save seven-year-old Skye from getting taken out by the Chronicoms, and when it was time to go Coulson and May had trouble leaving her behind. </p>
<p>This continuation happened because I fucking love Deke. No other reason ;)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Daisy clasped her hands together, running her thumb comfortingly up the side of her palm, then leaned her head against the glass pane of the vintage car’s driver’s side window. Her breath fogged the glass ever-so-briefly due to the cool, processed air of the Zephyr as it flew high in the atmosphere somewhere over the continental U.S., but to be honest, she couldn’t quite keep track <em>when</em> they were anymore, much less <em>where</em>.</p>
<p>She was just…tired.</p>
<p>A knock on the pane on the opposite side of the vehicle made her jump, her head banging into the roof of the decidedly short car. Deke peered in at her and Daisy sighed inwardly. Of all the people to find her here at eleven o’clock at night…well, he wouldn’t have been her first choice. Or her fourth.</p>
<p>Deke pulled the car door open and plopped in beside her. She affixed her face with an appearance of alertness and some vague approximation of interest. Deke closed the car door behind him, then looked at her with that very <em>Deke</em> expression, the kind that either meant he was about to spout some utter bullshit or babble something unnervingly heartfelt.</p>
<p>With how Daisy’s day—week?—month?—year?—life?—was going, it was probably going to be the latter.</p>
<p>“I heard you had a, uh…a rough time today,” Deke said.</p>
<p>Yup. There it was.</p>
<p>“Oh yeah?” Daisy asked, but there was no venom in it. Just that same bone-deep tiredness. “And who told you that?”</p>
<p>Deke blinked, then swallowed, then tilted his head ever so slightly. “…No one. I kind of just…assumed. Mean, scary nuns and all.”</p>
<p>She briefly remembered a conversation in the Lighthouse’s storage level, right before the FitzSimmons wedding. Right before they’d found out Coulson was dying. “Ah.”</p>
<p>“So, I, uh…thought I’d see if you needed anything. To talk, or…anything.” His expression was sincere, eyes never leaving her face despite his bumbling.</p>
<p>“…Thanks,” Daisy said, dropping her gaze and allowing some of her hair to fall in front of her face. The purple was gone and the blonde fading as well, now, returning to its original brown.</p>
<p>A few seconds passed. “What brings you in here?” Deke asked, looking around at the 1930s-era car they had stolen and bumping his fist twice against the black leather of the dash.</p>
<p>Daisy thought about it, then settled on the truth, too drained to muster up much else. “Hiding.”</p>
<p>“From…?”</p>
<p>“Coulson?” she offered. “May?” Then, because that seemed to require explanation, “They saw a lot today. Maybe some stuff they weren’t ready to see. Or some stuff I wasn’t ready for them to see.” She turned her gaze to the ceiling. “We…used to have this old plane. Before the Zephyr. We called it the Bus. And when I was new to S.H.I.E.L.D., and needed time alone, I would go hang out in one of the SUVs because it reminded me of my van. Someplace familiar. Safe.”</p>
<p>“Well I don’t know if an old 1930s car is familiar, but…I get the sentiment,” Deke said softly. She gave him a brief smile. “Back when I was growing up, in the Lighthouse—our living quarters got upgraded after my mom died. I think the Blues just wanted to be able to search our stuff for any contraband left from her regarding the prophecy, but still. We got moved after the renewal. And I used to go and find small places to hide, hidey-holes within the Lighthouse just to feel like it was back then. Like she was still with us.” He fell silent for another few seconds, then jumped, rummaging in his pocket for something. She noticed he was still wearing his nineties outfit, minus the backwards snap-back hat, but at least it was less atrocious than his eighties one.</p>
<p>“Here.” He held out a plastic package, two yellow blobs inside with little dots of chocolate for eyes. “You left pretty quick at dinner, so… It’s called a ‘Peep.’”</p>
<p>“Yeah, I know,” Daisy said, smiling in spite of herself as she took it. “They have Peeps in 2019, you know.”</p>
<p>He shrugged. “Mack let us stop at a convenience store while you were gone. And he said no more Twinkies, so.”</p>
<p>Daisy unwrapped the Peeps, two chick-shaped marshmallows covered in brightly-colored sugar crystals. “Well, you did buy six boxes last time.” Though her stomach still felt twisted up in knots, she took one measured bite before resting her hands against her lap again, sugary sweetness spreading over her tongue.</p>
<p>“Yeah, because they’re <em>great</em>.” He scuffed his shoes against the bottom of the car, then quickly looked back up at her. “Did you—did you want to talk, then? Or—if you came here to be alone, I can—I can leave.” His fingers were already in the door handle.</p>
<p>“No, it’s…” Daisy paused. “It’s okay. I appreciate it.”</p>
<p>Deke smiled much more widely than he probably meant to at being given permission to stay, then quickly schooled his expression.</p>
<p>Daisy looked down at her lap again. “It’s just, weird, you know? Like I don’t want them to feel guilty about all the stuff I went through. All the stuff they’ve now <em>seen</em>, with their own eyes. It’s one thing to…to talk about mean, scary nuns and constantly getting bumped around the foster system, but it’s another to see it. And now they have.”</p>
<p>Deke’s eyes never left her face. “Yeah…totally…”</p>
<p>“I just…don’t want them to see me different. Or pity me. Because yeah, all that stuff with the orphanages and the foster families was a long time ago—a lifetime ago, really—but sometimes I think it still affects me, a lot, to who I am now.”</p>
<p>“Well that makes sense,” Deke told her. “I mean, you grew up there. They don’t call those formative years for no reason.”</p>
<p>“And…they wanted to save me,” Daisy whispered. “I could see it in their eyes. Both of them. And obviously we can’t do that and it’s not even a good idea, but…that would have just been everything I wanted, at that age. Coulson and May. A dad and a mom.” She gave a watery laugh, scrubbing her hand quickly across her face before Deke could see. “Their ethnicities even fit, for god’s sake.” She swallowed. “It’s the kind of thing I dreamed about. Parents who came from out of the blue, who were nice, who loved me, who didn’t hit me or yell at me for taking up too much space…”</p>
<p>“You got yelled at for taking up too much space?”</p>
<p>Daisy huffed an unconvincing laugh. “My foster families were…not great.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>She shrugged. “I mean, you grew up in literally a post-apocalyptic hellscape, so…”</p>
<p>“Yeah, but…I was loved. Even after my mom died, and I was so mad at her for not giving up the ridiculous prophecy stuff that got her killed, I knew that,” Deke said seriously.</p>
<p>She looked down, fingers ghosting over the minuscule stitching of the black leather center console between them. “Sometimes I wonder…if I had been one of the ones put into the Framework…what my greatest regret that AIDA erased would have been. I like to think Lincoln, but sometimes…I’m not so sure.” Daisy met his eyes. “Is that bad? I mean, I loved him, and he died for me. It was my fault. But sometimes I wonder if my regret would have gone back even further…”</p>
<p>“To where?” Deke prompted softly.</p>
<p>She wiped at her face again. “To never meeting S.H.I.E.L.D. So I didn’t have to face all the…the <em>horrible</em> things that came after. Ward. Losing Trip—oh, right, I’m responsible for his death too. My mom trying to murder me and then getting killed by my dad. And then I never would have met Hive, or had Lincoln to lose in the first place…” She took a shuddering breath. “Or maybe AIDA would have gone back even further. Maybe my biggest regret was getting taken from my parents in the first place. I could have grown up in that little village in China, and who knows what kind of people they would have been then. Who knows who I would’ve been.”</p>
<p>“And here I thought I had an interesting family history.”</p>
<p>Despite herself, Daisy felt her lips twitch upward in a smile. “You have no idea.” </p>
<p>His hand clasped slowly over her wrist, a light, comforting pressure. “I want to, though.” She looked at him and he jolted slightly, as if hurrying to cover up the depth of feeling encompassed in that statement. “I mean, I want you to have someone to talk to about this stuff, if you need. Someone who’s not a robot, or your surrogate parent, or currently acting all mysterious about the last number of unknown years with the love of her life.”</p>
<p>“Thanks.” She inhaled deeply. “And Deke…you’re a good listener. Just so you know.”</p>
<p>He nodded, removing his hand. “I’ve been told. It’s part of my charm.”</p>
<p>Daisy rolled her eyes. “Sure.”</p>
<p>His face turned serious again. “But…but you’re happy to be here now, right? With—with how your life turned out?”</p>
<p>“I don’t know if ‘happy’ is the right word…”</p>
<p>“But you’re Quake. You’re an Inhuman. You’re powerful, and badass…and you don’t just have Coulson and May but Simmons, and Fitz, and Mack. They all love you, Daisy.” He swallowed. “There’s…there’s a lot to love.”</p>
<p>She looked at him. “That might be the sweetest thing anyone’s said to me in a long time.”</p>
<p>Deke chuckled nervously. “All part of that Deke charm…”</p>
<p>“No, I appreciate it. And…to answer your question…” She cast her gaze out over the garage, toward the glass doors etched with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo that led to the Zephyr’s upgraded science lab. “I wouldn’t change it. If I had the chance to go back that far. So…I guess that means I’m happy. If shitty stuff doesn’t keep happening.”</p>
<p>“S.H.I.E.L.D. seems like a magnet for it.”</p>
<p>She nodded. “You are…not wrong.” She looked down.</p>
<p>Deke let the silence linger a little, then bumped the dash of the car with his fist, a broad, not entirely genuine smile on his face. “Why do we even still have this? We left the thirties, like, a week ago.”</p>
<p>Daisy laughed. “I don’t know…I think we just forgot to return it.”</p>
<p>“<em>Dibs</em>.” He cocked his head. “That’s a thing, still, right? Calling dibs?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, it’s a thing,” she smiled. “Although now that I think about it I’m not entirely sure Coulson didn’t purposefully keep this thing as a souvenir. Goes along with Lola.”</p>
<p>“Who’s Lola?”</p>
<p>“His car. A red convertible. It flies.”</p>
<p>“…is that impressive for this time period, or…?”</p>
<p>“Yeah. Yeah, it was impressive.” Daisy looked down at the one and a half Peeps still nestled in her hand, snug inside their plastic packaging. “You’re supposed to microwave these, you know.”</p>
<p>“What? Why?” Deke asked, looking vaguely repulsed.</p>
<p>“It’s…” She shook her head. “Trust me, we’re doing it wrong.” Taking a deep breath, she pulled on the door handle and pushed it open, clamoring out of the car. “Come on.”</p>
<p>Deke followed her eagerly to the common area, and she slid the rest of her Peeps out of the plastic and set them on a plate in the microwave, hitting the timer for thirty seconds. She peered inside, watching as her Peep puffed bigger and bigger until she hit the ‘cancel’ button, yanking the door open to retrieve it even as the deflation began. She lifted a bit of it to her mouth, sticky with long strings descending back down to the plate. “See?”</p>
<p>“Awesome,” Deke breathed, pulling out yet another packet from his pocket. He hurriedly pulled the plastic off of them, sticking them on a second plate and jamming it in the microwave, jabbing excitedly at the start button with his finger. “I wonder how big it can get…”</p>
<p>Daisy pulled up a second piece of chewy goodness and popped it into her mouth. The Brodys had taught her this method when she was with them over Easter, come to think of it, but somehow that memory didn’t sting as much now. “Just make sure it doesn’t—” she warned. There was a loud popping sound from the microwave, and Deke’s ginormous Peep burst apart, coating the entire interior in a sticky, sugary mess. “…explode.”</p>
<p>Deke opened the door, looking forlornly at the remains of his Peep. His face resembled a kicked puppy.</p>
<p>Daisy nudged her plate against his arm. “Here, have some of mine.”</p>
<p>“Thanks.” His eyes bulged as soon as the first bit touched his tongue. “That’s amazing.”</p>
<p>She grinned. “I know.”</p>
<p>“I have eight more packages in my bunk,” Deke said. “And the microwave’s already a mess, so…” He looked at her, seriousness etched all over his face. “We need to find out exactly how big they can get before they explode. For science.” He raced off toward the bunks, streaming strings of marshmallow behind him.</p>
<p>Daisy stared after him and shook her head, smiling to herself amid the ruins of Peep. “Yeah, definitely FitzSimmons’s grandkid.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Any and all feedback appreciated! Also always looking for new people to yell excitedly about season 7 with, so hit me up for that as well if you like ;)</p>
<p>One more follow-up fic to come, this time with Coulson and May...</p></blockquote></div></div>
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